Chief Wren Mildred Georgina Norman, WRNS, R/3615, was born in Kensal Rise, Middlesex. She was the daughter of Sidney George and Rosina Norman of that village.
Chief Wren Norman was one of the top Wren telegraphers in the Royal Navy in 1941. A select few had been put through a grueling, competitive course to become chief wireless telegraphers, with the accompanying elevation in rank upon successful completion. These telegraphers were, along with Wren officers and one QARNNS nurse, to be transferred to Gibralter for wireless and cipher duty there.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Mildred Norman, WRNS, is remebered on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Plaque 50, column 3.
Chief Wren Norman was one of the top Wren telegraphers in the Royal Navy in 1941. A select few had been put through a grueling, competitive course to become chief wireless telegraphers, with the accompanying elevation in rank upon successful completion. These telegraphers were, along with Wren officers and one QARNNS nurse, to be transferred to Gibralter for wireless and cipher duty there.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Mildred Norman, WRNS, is remebered on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Plaque 50, column 3.
Chief Wren Mildred Georgina Norman, WRNS, R/3615, was born in Kensal Rise, Middlesex. She was the daughter of Sidney George and Rosina Norman of that village.
Chief Wren Norman was one of the top Wren telegraphers in the Royal Navy in 1941. A select few had been put through a grueling, competitive course to become chief wireless telegraphers, with the accompanying elevation in rank upon successful completion. These telegraphers were, along with Wren officers and one QARNNS nurse, to be transferred to Gibralter for wireless and cipher duty there.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Mildred Norman, WRNS, is remebered on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Plaque 50, column 3.
Chief Wren Norman was one of the top Wren telegraphers in the Royal Navy in 1941. A select few had been put through a grueling, competitive course to become chief wireless telegraphers, with the accompanying elevation in rank upon successful completion. These telegraphers were, along with Wren officers and one QARNNS nurse, to be transferred to Gibralter for wireless and cipher duty there.
The twenty two Wrens departed on the SS Aguila carrying a cargo of 397 bags of mail in a general cargo of 1,288 tons on 12 August 1941 as a part of Convoy OG-71 en route to Gibraltar from Liverpool. The convoy, consisting of twenty three merchant ships and escorted by six corvettes and two destroyers, was attacked by German submarines while off the south western coast of Ireland. Aguila was attacked by German submarine U-201 and sunk. The torpedo hit the Aguila amidships sending her to the bottom in ninety seconds. There were only 16 badly injured survivors, leaving a death toll of 145. Not a single one of the twenty-two Wrens aboard survived.
As a tribute to their memory, a lifeboat named 'Aguila Wren' was built and launched on June 28, 1952, for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Mildred Norman, WRNS, is remebered on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Plaque 50, column 3.
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
